Wait just a second. Yesterday it looked like Bolden would play this weekend, but today JoePa says he probably won't:

He was tested for concussion symptoms Sunday, Paterno said, and "still had some memory problems." He is scheduled for further testing Wednesday.

"If I had to make a guess, I’d guess he’s not gonna make it," Paterno said. "But that does not mean that I know what I’m talking about."

I did not add that last bit in for the lulz, Paterno really said it. Or the Centre Daily Times put in for the luz. One of the two. Without Bolden Penn State reverts to their summer depth chart:

Sheridan

Threet

In this case it appears that starting Sheridan is the right move. McGloin is walk-on Forcier; Newsome is slow Justin Feagin. If Bolden does not play, the Penn State game goes to 100% must win for Rodriguez. Also my sanity.

A class-action lawsuit was filed against the NCAA in an effort to change the policy that places a one-year limit on athletic scholarships and subjects them to an annual review.

The plaintiff hails from an unlikely place for a pissed-off cut player to come from: Rice. Joseph Agnew was a defensive back who claims his scholarship was "cancelled" but he was allowed to maintain it one more year after appealing.

His suit challenges not only the one-year limit on scholarship commitments but the whole 85-scholarship cap. I'm wildly in favor of changing the former and allowing NCAA programs to offer 2, 3, and 4-year commitments that only the player can voluntarily terminate. Putting the level of a school's commitment in writing would go a long way towards preventing Saban-like overstocking; what remained would at least be explicit and less surprising. I'm less enthused about getting rid of scholarship caps but wouldn't mind too much since the end result would be more money headed towards players instead of coaches.

This is the NCAA's goofy defense of itself:

"However, it should be noted that the award of athletic scholarships on a one-year, renewable basis is the more typical approach taken within higher education for talent-based and academic scholarships in general."

While this may be true, no one's running around prohibiting people from offering longer commitments.

Burke continues to deliver and proves to be not just the best guard in Central Ohio, but the best player. He impacts every game in a significant manner, but in most cases, he impacts every possession. Burke knocked down big shots, scored driving to the basket, and even rebounded the ball very well from his guard spot. It seems like every event or game we cover of Burke’s the Michigan commit knocks down a big shot.

Those guys even "coin Burke as 'Baby Big Shot'," which verb noun object.

Missing on Dom Pointer leaves a nasty hole in that class but the two guys Beilein locked down seem well above the standard set by his first class. If there's some hope on the court this fall Michigan should be on a steady upward trajectory the next few years. Which is kind of a crappy spot to be in going into year four but there it is.

The shirt. Tim put this up in the press conference recaps, but to re-iterate:

"He's doing well. His back has been a little sore, so he's been a little limited." RR couldn't answer whether he'll try to earn a medical redshirt this season, and be a redshirt freshman next year.

I will answer this: Gardner will try to get a medical redshirt like whoah. The rule is 30% of the season rounded up, which is four games in football; Gardner did not play after the BGSU game. This is simultaneously tragic and wonderful, since 2014 should feature redshirt senior Devin Gardner instead of anyone else. The Year of Incessant Pleas/Complaints About Devin Gardner's Redshirt is now mercifully over, NCAA permitting.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Miller is probably laid up with a back injury or tendinitis or flying monkey syndrome since he inexplicably appeared on kickoff coverage against UMass and hasn't seen the light of day since. I assume Michigan will ask for a medical redshirt for him as well.

Let’s start with a piped-in, pre-play musical montage of AC/DC, Moby, and various Euro-trash Trans music that was combination of minor league hockey meets random Greg Davis play-calling. Marching bands are college football, leave that two turn table and a microphone bulls-- to glowstick infected raves and HenryJames wedding receptions.

I am pro multi-year scholarship commitments. I am also in favor of teh student-athletes having to honor those commitments as well, so if they want to go elsewhere, no scholies, with exceptions for extenuating circumstances.

has to be approved by the NCAA. It's not a unilateral move by the schools.

The NCAA makes the rules.

The NCAA enforces the rules.

Medical redshirts are reviewed and approved by the NCAA.

So if the NCAA approves a somewhat sketchy redshirt for a freshman with minimal participation and no competitive impact with a wink and a nod, who do you complain to?

In 2007. the NCAA quietly changed the participation rule for medical redshirt eligibility from 20% to 30% of games, thus making it even easier for freshmen to be eligible for them. I'm having trouble seeing why it would be sleazy for a school to do something the NCAA is actually encouraging.

"However, it should be noted that the award of athletic scholarships on a one-year, renewable basis is the more typical approach taken within higher education for talent-based and academic scholarships in general."

Bull-puckey. I was offered a few academic scholarships from several universities, and not one of them was characterized as one-year. They were all four-year scholarships. I could lose them by not holding up my end of the bargain (my GPA), but the school couldn't terminate them if they decided I was no longer useful.

I just don't want to be the team responsible for giving an 18 year old true freshman brain damage. For real. He failed a memory test on Sunday. His brain is swollen. Please don't jeopardize his future, Joe

I like the idea of multi-year athletic scholarships, though I wonder how many schools would actually take advantage of it. The Sabans of the world might lose a couple of commits to other teams offering longer-term stability, but I could also see it used as a recruiting tool by teams saying Team X already have a 2-year commitment at a player's position, while everyone competes for starting time every year on Team Y.

As for the Tressel-Cooper-Brown comparison, I agree that sustaining that type of success is nearly impossible even with great talent, and I expect to see the Vest have a down year soon enough (maybe when Pryor leaves?). But I have always taken issue with the Cooper-Tressel comparison because it always seems to sell Cooper short while pumping up Tressel.

Cooper took over a down program and turned it into a veritable NFL factory that, unfortunately, always seemed to have one misstep a year. In 96 and 98, they lost only once, in close contests to UM and MSU, respectively. That was enough to doom them to 2nd place, while in the BCS era they probably would have had another shot at the title. Cooper's record, if you through out the last two years, was 97-33, and that included the first years of a rebuilding effort. You could also argue that the B10 was much better top-to-bottom during Cooper's time, as teams like PSU, Purdue, Wiscy, Iowa, UM, and NW all made solid runs at the top-10/Big 10 titles.

By comparison, Tressel inherited a much more talented team (though it had struggled recently), and sits at 101-22 going into this weekend. So because Tressel won a debated MNC in his second year, he is characterized as a "winner" (despite the high-profile bowl losses) while Cooper was a loser because he couldnt beat pretty good UM teams and didn't have the benefit for the BCS. I'm not a fan of Cooper or Tressel, but I have always been bothered by the undue blame heaped on Cooper, praise on Tressel, for basically being the same coach.

In 1996, undefeated #1 Florida State would have presumably played undefeated #2 Arizona State, and eventual champion Florida and Ohio State would have been left in the cold. In 1998, #1 Tennessee played #2 Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State was #4 behind Kansas State.

I suppose they could have found themselves in the BCS title game (had there been one in those years), but it doesn't seem terribly likely.

Anyway, I think the real reason Cooper is so poorly regarded is his record against Michigan, an area where Tressel unfortunately has done quite well.

But he does make a good point about the strength of the Big Ten, which has caused this run of titles for Tressel. Obviously we're down (even before Rich took over), which was Cooper's main problem. But Wisconsin regressed a little, PSU had some real down times, Purdue is well past their peak, Iowa went down, then came back up, Northwestern was a title threat, not just an upset threat, Minnesota's been crash and burn after Mason, and MSU at least had the Saban years. The Big Ten is coming back up a little, but Cooper had a lot more consequence to slipping up than Tressel has had. He'll probably get another Big Ten title even with losing one this year.

I'm stoked about Nebraska, but there are many times I feel like fate made us miss sharing a conference with our burnt orange drawling spiritual bretheren on the flip side of the country. Keep up the good fight Longhorns, may the Rawk never win.

If we don't turn the damn ball over, I like our chances agains Penn State. We are going to give up the least amount of points in a game since the UConn game, so we just need to protect the ball and get out of there with a victory

Our D is bad, for sure, but after watching Iowa and Wiscy, I came away thinking, shucks we ain't that far off, for real.

Belien is pretty sweet, and his recruiting is getting even sweeter. Smot and Hardaway are going to be two of the best players on the team this season.

Brundidge and Burke are going to come in next year with college ready offensive games, they are gonna be good. Keep an eye on Brundidge this year at Southfield if the kid doesn't average 30 a game I will be surprised. Classic man against boys situation. If Brundidge were 6'4" he would be a 5* recruit.